


Who Hurt You?

by youwishpreppy



Series: Joavin OTP Prompts Short Stories [4]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Fluff, Light Angst, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-29 15:39:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15732417
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youwishpreppy/pseuds/youwishpreppy





	Who Hurt You?

_49 “Who hurt you?”_

_71 “You’ve been drinking tonight, haven’t you?”_

Fred Andrew was hosting another one of his BBQ parties, and all the Serpents were there, including Joaquin of course. He was sitting in the backyard with Sweet Pea, smoking a cigarette and watching the small crowd in front of him. It was already dark outside a light breeze coming up, and Joaquin leaned back in his chair with a pleased sigh. He was feeling pretty good. That was until Fangs walked up to them with a worried expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Sweet Pea asked.

“I have to talk to Joaquin.”

Fangs sat down next to Joaquin, and all of Joaquin’s good mood evaporated just like that. He looked at Fangs questioningly. His friend was scaring him, looking so worried. What was going on?  
  
“I have to tell you something. You know that I got kind of close with Midge right?”  
  
Joaquin nodded, not really understanding why Fangs was telling him that.  
  
“Yeah well, she told me things about Moose. He was her boyfriend back then, and she said that after the Black Hood had shot Moose, Moose changed. He got aggressive all of a sudden. Midge tried to be understanding because she knew it was caused by that traumatic experience, but it got worse. He yelled at her all the time and pushed her so hard that she even fell to the floor once.”  
  
Joaquin could just stare at his friend in shock, alarm bells ringing in his head. Kevin was with Moose now…  
  
Fangs continued:“I mean I didn’t really think about it after she died, but then Moose and Kevin got closer, and I remembered again. But I thought that maybe things were better now. But I don’t know… I just saw Kevin, and he seemed to be out of it. I just have this weird feeling. Maybe you should look after him…”  
  
“Why didn’t you tell me this sooner? I can’t believe this!” Joaquin rarely got angry, especially with someone he considered his brother. But this was about Kevin. Kevin could be in trouble, and Joaquin hadn’t been there for him, because Fangs hadn’t told him sooner. Joaquin saw red.  
  
“I’m sorry, I really didn’t see any signs up until tonight.” Fangs mumbled.  
  
But Joaquin wasn’t even listening anymore, he was already on his way towards the house, needing to find Kevin and make sure he was ok.  
  
He found him sitting on the floor in front of Archie’s room. Kevin didn’t even see him coming, he seemed to be far away in his own little world, his head bowed slightly and staring at the floor, his arms wrapped around himself.  
  
Joaquin dropped to his knees in front of Kevin, reaching out cautiously and gently touching Kevin’s shoulder. “Kevin…hey. Are you ok?”  
  
Kevin raised his head slowly and looked at Joaquin, and he certainly didn’t look ok. His eyes were bloodshot, and Joaquin could see tear streaks on his cheeks and worst of all a huge bruise, where someone apparently had hit Kevin.

“Oh fuck.”

Joaquin’s heart ached for Kevin. He looked so broken, sitting there like that. And someone, probably Moose, had hit him. Joaquin felt anger, but mostly sadness. It was all his fault! If he would have stayed, if he would have told Kevin the truth, he would still be with him and could have protected him.  
  
He reached out and touched the bruise lightly, grimacing when Kevin flinched at the touch.  
  
“I’m sorry. Does it hurt a lot?”  
  
“No just a bit. It’s ok.”  
  
“It’s definitely not ok. Who did this?  _ **Who hurt you?**_ ”

Kevin exhaled a shaky breath, and a twisted, sad smile crossed his face: “The guy I called my boyfriend up until today.” Kevin’s voice came out a bit slurred, and Joaquin realized that Kevin probably had had some drinks.  
  
“ _ **You’ve been drinking tonight, haven’t you?**_  To forget?”  
  
Kevin nodded. “Yeah…but it doesn’t help at all.”  
  
“I know. Hey…Preppy is it ok if I hold you?”  
  
“Yes, please do that.”  
  
And so Joaquin gently put his arms around Kevin and hugged him close. He felt Kevin’s arms wrapping around his waist. They sat like that for a long time, just holding each other, Joaquin stroking Kevin’s back soothingly and waiting patiently for Kevin to say something. And after some time, he really started to talk:  
  
“You know this has been going on for two weeks now. At first, he was just getting angry and yelling at me for no reason at all, and I told myself that it was just all the post-traumatic stress and I tried to be extra nice to him and take care of him. But it didn’t help. Actually, his behavior got worse. He got violent, kicking and throwing things, but at least it was never directed against me…but tonight…tonight we got into a fight because he didn’t want me to go to the party. I told him that I can make my own decisions, and he just hit me.”  
  
Kevin had begun to cry again while telling his story and it broke Joaquin’s heart. He held Kevin even tighter, trying to offer him comfort that way.  
  
Kevin went on:“ I just left after that. He was yelling after me how sorry he was, but I didn’t stop to listen. You know it’s just…I gave him a chance Joaquin. I wanted things to work out, I wanted to help him, and I was so understanding, and then he had to do something like that. It’s not that I am defenseless…I could have easily hit him back. But that’s just not something I do, that’s not who I am. It’s not even the physical pain that is so bad, the worst thing is the betrayal. I trusted him and tried to help him and he just…”  
  
“I understand Kevin. And you made the right decision to walk away.”  
  
“Thank you…”  
  
Archie stormed up the stairs at that moment and stopped in his tracks when he saw the two of them on the floor. His gaze landed on Kevin’s face, and he gasped. “Oh god, Kevin! What happened to you?”  
  
“I don’t want to talk about it right now, Archie…but I am ok. Joaquin is taking care of me.”  
  
Joaquin nodded, seeking Archie’s gaze. He gave Joaquin a thumbs up. “Ok, that’s good.”  
  
Joaquin asked Kevin softly: “Should I bring you home now?”  
  
“I don’t want to go home tonight.”  
  
Archie pointed to his room: “You can stay here, just take my bed, Kev.”  
  
“Thank you, Archie.”  
  
Archie smiled weakly at him and then addressed Joaquin: “Joaquin? Can you stay with Kevin please?”  
  
“Of course, I won’t leave him alone tonight.”  
  
Archie, being satisfied with that answer, went back down to the party and Joaquin and Kevin went into Archie’s room. Joaquin insisted that Kevin should lie down and rest a bit and he was relieved when Kevin followed his advice and lay down on the bed.  
  
“Preppy give me your phone, please. I’ll send your dad a text to let him know you are staying at Archie’s. So he isn’t worried.”  
  
Kevin handed him the phone. Joaquin typed a quick text to Kevin’s dad and then lay down next to Kevin. He was surprised when Kevin immediately pulled him against him.  
  
“Sorry, but I just…can you hold me please, Joaquin? I hope this isn’t weird. But I always felt so safe in your arms.”  
  
“This isn’t weird at all, Preppy. Come here.”  
  
And he gently hugged Kevin to his chest, stroking his hair.  
  
“I’m going to kill Moose,” Joaquin whispered.  
  
“No, please promise me that you won’t do anything like that….and I am not saying that because I think Moose doesn’t deserve it. Because he  _does_  deserve it. But I don’t want you to get into trouble. He is not worth it. Promise me, Joaquin.”  
  
“Ok, I promise you. But if you ever change your mind, just tell me.”  
  
“Thank you, for being there for me tonight.”  
  
“I will always be there for you, Preppy.”  
  
They spent the rest of the night like that, in each other’s arms, talking. At first about Kevin and Moose and later on just about random things. Kevin told Joaquin all about the tv-shows he had watched, during Joaquin’s stay in San Junipero and it seemed to distract him and calm him down, and so Joaquin listened patiently, smiling to himself, while stroking Kevin’s hair, until Kevin dozed off. And Joaquin promised himself that he would never leave Kevin alone again.


End file.
